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Becca is a schoolteacher and blogs at homeiswheremystorybegins.com. She loves to cook, bake, garden, sew, quilt, teach and simply spend time with her family. She strives to find art in everyday things.

Gardening is always a magical experience for young children, but adding fairies can turn gardening into a magical, creative and imaginative experience with a little bit of science education.

Our local garden center has an entire section devoted to fairy gardens. There were tiny shovels, miniature fences, adorable arbors, mini seating areas, and just about anything else a little fairy’s heart could desire. This inspired us to create our own fairy garden!

Map out the garden

We turned an old feed box we found in the shed into a planter, added soil and got creative. My daughter mapped out how she wanted the garden to look and thought creatively about how to re-create the fairy garden we saw with materials found around the house.

Pick your plants

Once we decided on which pieces to include in the garden, we “shopped” our own garden to see what plants might work. Seedlings that were just coming up could be used as trees, plants with tiny flowers would be perfect for a flower garden and moss could be used as walkways. Once the garden items were placed and plants were added, all that was needed was the fairy. Fortunately for us, my daughter has quite a collection of little fairies in her room.

Science lesson

As the fairy garden grew, we had a quick lesson in science. Quickly, our tiny fairy-sized flowers overtook the small garden and had to be replaced. We learned that between the sunlight and water we were providing for the garden, the plants were doing what plants do—growing!

Using your imagination

My daughter spent quite a bit of time telling stories about her fairies, moving them around, having them talk to each other and having them work in their garden. It was the perfect spot for imaginative play!

Creating our own fairy garden has become a seasonal tradition that my youngest looks forward to. She now collects seasonal pieces throughout the year to add to the garden!